Dear friends

SUMMER 2004

Dear friends,

With hearts full of gratitude to God almighty, we have come to the end of another successful school year. The term ended on June the 17th, after a short programme of songs, speeches, recitations followed by prize giving. By the end of the day, the children had all gone home with the exception of two girls who had to wait until the next morning because of travel restrictions.

The last three months have been rather difficult; mainly because the children had very little space to play in. The landlord suddenly decided to build a block of eight flats, a couple of metres away from our windows, on the tiny space we had for playground and garden. For three whole weeks running, the sound of drilling in the rocks, the dirt and the dust were terrible. We could hardly concentrate on our work, neither in the classrooms nor in our offices.

Nevertheless, I considered this nuisance to be a sign from God that it was time to focus all our efforts towards having our own premises. We are praying fervently to achieve this goal. God is forever faithful.

Palestinian Child’s Day

April 5^th was Palestinian Child's Day. Our children joined the march that was organised by the Ministry of Education to celebrate the day, and then it was followed by a short entertainment programme. The children thoroughly enjoyed participating in the event and lifting the banners that called for peace and equal education for all.

Helen and the children marching on Palestinian Child's Day

A visit to Ramat Gan Safari

On April 17th, for our annual excursion, we took our school children to the Zoo and Safari in Ramat Gan, a few kilometres away from Tel Aviv. We were able to take them merely because it was Easter week, and our staff who are mainly Christians, had permits to enter Jerusalem and therefore Israel.

The children had a marvelous time getting introduced to the various animals and touching some of the domestic ones. Of course, our partially sighted children got more out of this visit than the children with no sight at all. But at least we managed to get the children out of the school boundaries and into the unknown world of Israel!!

At the Zoo

Training Staff

A three-day workshop was held in June for all employees. Different consultants were commissioned to give lectures on “First Aid Techniques”, “Child Psychology” and “Intervention and Crisis Management”.

The workshop was a nice way to re-emphasize certain points to staff members. Some information was already known but needed highlighting.

Sharing Experiences

During the term, three students in their fourth year at Bethlehem University embarked on their final year project of integrating the six children in our Kindergarten with six children from another Kindergarten at a regular school.

They spent five months working with the twelve children separately and together as a group. According to the university students, who have now graduated, the project was quite successful. Children just wanted to be children whether normal children or with special needs and they enjoyed each other’s company tremendously.

Our kindergarten children integrating with normal children

Summer School Camp

On June the 30^th, twenty children will return to school in order to participate in the Summer School Camp. The camp is going to held, like last year, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education. Our children will be integrated with normal children at a summer camp run by the Ministry from eight in the morning till one in the afternoon. Then they will return to Al-Shurooq for further activities and fun organized by us.

Eight of the children will be flying to Paris for a week, accompanied by Doris and Samira, as part two of the European Blind Union’s Peace Project.

The programme in Paris is filled with exciting adventures and beautiful excursions. I am certain the children will love every minute.

Purchased Land

As we approached professionals to make construction plans for the building, we were advised to buy the rest of the land, which is another eleven hundred (1,100) square metres. The reasons for this undertaking are that there are already three tall buildings on the three sides surrounding us, and to have a fourth building on the remaining part of the land will shut us out completely.

Secondly, it will give the children plenty of space to have a proper playground and a spacious garden, which will also allow for future expansion. Thirdly, the remaining plot of land has a better location with a direct access to the main road. We could not buy it initially, because the price exceeded our budget and the amount we had raised.

Bearing all these advantages in mind, it was suggested that obtaining the remaining part of the land is more important than starting to build. It costs one hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) US dollars to buy the eleven hundred square metres.

An appeal was sent out to a few friends, and I have already received three encouraging responses. Many special thanks to all of you who have supported us all these years, and especially those who have responded to our appeal. Although I know many of you would want to support but lack the means. I do appreciate your prayers and thoughts. Please do keep us in your prayers, as we need them most.

I have a dear friend who describes our work as “God’s modern miracle” and indeed so it is.

Thank you and God Bless.

Bulldozing our playground and garden